The Tulip Greeting

This is what greeted me the day we got to our new place in Idaho. It's across the street from the family of the boy in the photo below. We had seen it, but bought it long distance. So some tulips were over, but these and a cluster of red ones and some yellow ones were glorious! I'm still getting used to the stream behind the house and the wonderful bird life. We've been on the trip and then on the Great Furniture Hunt. Now I hope I'm back for a while. I've missed this. . .and hope I haven't lost all my readers.

In Honor of Daylily Season

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Originally uploaded by jhhymas

Which is almost over, alas. We've been adding some plants every summer for the past several years, and they are doing well. Some people say deer eat them, but these are along the front of the house and haven't been eaten yet.
I love the colors in this photo. Today I discovered another time-sink on the Internet, the Color Palette tool available at bighugelabs.com. (Be sure to type the s on labs, or you might get a nasty surprise.) One selects a photo, particularly one with striking, limited colors like this one, and one gets about 15 squares of isolated colors from that photo with color numbers and wonderful color names. Results from different photos are strikingly different.
I have been dragging my feet on the Postcard Exchange. . . I keep thinking that the ones I make aren't good enough. Or I am at a loss as to how to finish something without wrecking it, and making it look overworked. I have gotten four of the seven cards from the others but have only sent out two, which leaves me in deficit mode. But there's always, or at least often, tomorrow.

Blossoming cherry

Pale blossoms
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

These blossoms last such a short time. Already months have passed since the cherries were in bloom in California in early March. These red stamens make me want to reach for a red pen, Today we bought some columbines in bloom and a pot of lupine with a spire of white bloom and a spire of blue. Gorgeous. There's a bud left and I hope to see what color it will be. One of the columbines was one of The Origami Series, which I had never heard of. But now I'm a fan! The plant is covered with off-white or pale yellowy blooms, with a lot of extra thready parts. I should photograph it tomorrow. When we got home tonight, the light was gone.

Trillium

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Originally uploaded by jhhymas

One of many, as I will be on a crowded plane, first to Frankfurt and then to Athens. Wish me and my luggage luck. Unless I find an Internet cafe, this will be my last message until about June 13th. I am quite looking forward and quite scares about all the things that might go wrong.

Trillium wood on the way to Indian River

Trillium wood on the way to Indian River
Originally uploaded by jhhymas

Tonight we went out for a bite to eat and a short drive. I remembered that the woods along Hwy 68 between Alanson and Indian River had been a good place to see trillium in bloom just at this time, or a little earlier. I knew this might be my last chance this year. And look at this! This photo shows only a small portion of this wood along the highway. We stopped so I could take pictures, and the very nice woman who lives there came out to talk to me about them. She said she moved here from Ohio a few years ago, and really loved these flowers. She asked if I wanted to pick some, but I said she should just leave them there. Gorgeous!
This pleased me so much. I thought she was going to yell at me to stay off her land--I was just standing on the edge of the road where the Road Commission mows the weeds, and peering into the twilit woods. And she just wanted to rejoice with me at the wildflower's beauty. THe trillium is the state flower of Michigan.